Quiet Quitting? 50% of your people have quit!

Quiet Quitting?

50% of your people have quit!

Quietly quit, that is!

I know – “Just what we needed! Another buzz phrase!”

But this is about people, maybe your people, and without great people, you can forget about achieving your Vision.

So best invest some time and get up to speed.

Gallup says that at least 50% of employed people in the United States have quietly quit. They’ll do their job, but nothing more.

Just this week, I have read quotes from two HR consultants who say we should affirm this behavior in the interests of avoiding burnout.

I strongly disagree with this advice, especially in the world of independent insurance brokers.

In my experience, telling a frontline team member in a brokerage to “just do your job and nothing more” will make for greater stress, not less! These are people who, for the most part, are passionate about caring for their clients!

Condoning quiet quitting is a very tactical solution. Again, speaking of independent insurance brokers, let’s consider some strategic solutions!

I acknowledge the problem – frontline team members are burning out due to dealing with the hard market, having to take on tasks that used to be performed by the insurance companies and chronic staff shortages.

Here are some strategic action steps that brokerage principals can act on, right now:

• Make sure you have the right people in the right jobs, based on Natural Talents. (There are 3 different jobs – servicing, selling, support. No one is equally good at all three!)
• If you have any Corporate Terrorists, deal with right now, they’re draining the energy of you good people.
• Conduct Stay Interviews with all employees, starting with your Top Performers first.
• Segment your book of business into A’s (Top 5%), B’s (Middle 15%), C’s (Bottom 80%) and Y’s (Why do we have these clients?).
• Define Service Levels for each segment.
• Define your Ideal Client and super-qualify all new business (No new Y’s!).
• Clarify your Core Values or Guiding Principles and walk the talk.

There are many more actions you can take, so review all you options, make a plan and stick to it.

But above all else, don’t condone quiet quitting!